Interviews

Zen Master Bon Yeon (Jane McLaughlin-Dobisz) is the guiding teacher of the Cambridge Zen Center. Having practiced both in the Tibetan and Vipassana traditions previously, she became a student of Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1982. She practiced extensively in the US, Europe and Asia, and received transmission from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 2000. She has led several 90 ...

Sensei Daishin was born in London, England, to a Jewish-Christian family of Eastern European backgrounds. He began Zen practice in Philadelphia in 1967, receiving both lay and Priest ordination in the Korean Chogye Order of Zen from the Venerable Seo Kyung-bo. He later practiced with (then) Maezumi Sensei at the Zen Center of Los Angeles (ZCLA), where he was in ...

John Gendo Wolff, Sensei, has been a Zen practitioner for over 30 years and teacher at Great Wave Zen Sangha in Ludington, Michigan. He received Jukai (lay ordination) from Dennis Genpo Merzel on August 1, 1992. On July 15, 2006, he was ordained as a priest in the White Plum lineage by his teacher Susan Myoyu Andersen, Roshi, and in the ...

Mushim (Patricia) Ikeda is a socially-engaged Buddhist teacher, writer, diversity consultant, and community activist living in Oakland, California. She is a core teacher at East Bay Meditation Center (www.eastbaymeditation.org), and has taught meditation retreats for people of color, women, and social justice activists nationally. Her Dharma experience has been both monastic and lay, in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and South ...

Tozen Akiyama is a Soto Zen priest. He was born in Takasaki City, Gumma Prefecture, Japan in 1936. He started Zen sitting under the guidance of Tosui Ohta Roshi in 1972 and was ordained by Ohta Roshi in 1974. Tozen was re-ordained by Reiyu Tamiya Roshi in 1977 and trained at Daieiji Monastery from 1977 to 1978. He came to ...

Daigan Vince Gaither (b. April 3, 1966) began Buddhist practice in 1995 as an Vipassana practitioner, and began to study Zen in 2003 with Ryushin Paul Haller. He received Lay Ordination in 2006 and Priest Ordination in 2011. His work and practice include many hours devoted to community service as one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (since 1995) and a volunteer ...

Koun Franz is a Sōtō Zen priest born in Helena, Montana. He was ordained in 2001, then trained at Zuiōji and Shōgōji monasteries. From 2006 to 2010, he served as resident priest of the Anchorage Zen Community. He recently relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Japan, where he trained, translated, and taught at traditional monasteries. He currently leads practice at Zen Nova Scotia. This ...

Guo Gu (born August 24, 1968) is one of the late Master Sheng Yen’s senior lay teachers and translators, assisting with and leading activities at the Chan Meditation Center, Dharma Drum Retreat Center, and Dharma Drum Mountain, Taiwan. In 1982, while still quite young, he learned meditation from Master Sheng Yen, and began practicing Chan intensively in 1989. Guo Gu was ...

Zen Master Bon Hae (Judith Roitman) is a Zen teacher with the Kwan Um School of Zen. She began practicing Zen with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1976 at the Cambridge Zen Center. She was one of the founders of the Kansas Zen Center in 1978 and received inka (authorization to teach) from Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1998. On ...

Zenshin Greg Fain is a disciple of Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi, Abbot of Berkeley Zen Center in Berkeley, California in the Soto Zen tradition. He was ordained by Sojun Roshi in April 2002 and was shuso at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center under Sojun Roshi’s leadership in 2005. He currently serves as Tanto at Tassajara. Fain received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel ...

David Dayan (or, Dae En) Rynick (born 1952) is a Zen teacher with the Boundless Way Zen school, a Dharma heir of Bo Mun George Bowman. David Rynick was born in 1952, in Houston, Texas. He grew up in upstate New York, where his father was a Presbyterian minister with a great faith in a God who is present in our ...

Koshin Christopher Cain is Abbot of the Puget Sound Zen Center. Koshin was born in 1965 and grew up in London, England, and Raleigh, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with a BA in American Studies in 1987. In 1990 he moved to Mt. Baldy Zen Center in California, he ordained in 1991, and ...

Kyogen Carlson is a Soto Zen priest and abbot of Dharma Rain Zen Center. He was ordained by Houn Jiyu-Kennett Roshi in 1972 at Shasta Abbey, where he trained as a monk for five years before receiving full certification as a teacher (Dharma transmission and inka). He remained at Shasta Abbey another five years to continue training, and to serve as a staff member and ...

James Daikan Bastien began his Zen training under the direction of senior monastic students of Dainin Katagiri Roshi at the Nebraska Zen Center in Omaha, Nebraska in 1979. In 1990, Daikan began training with Zen Master Soeng Hyang in the Kwan Um School of Zen where he trained for the next 10 years while administering human service organizations in Rhode ...

This interview was conducted in 2011. Rev. Jay Rinsen Weik is an ordained Zen Buddhist priest, an Aikido Sensei, and a professor of Guitar. He is co-founder of the Buddhist Temple of Toledo, the Drinking Gourd Institute, and Shobu Aikido of Ohio. Jay is a student of James Myo’un Ford Roshi and began his Zen studies in 1987 at Zen ...

About Sweeping Zen

Established in 2009 as a grassroots initiative, Sweeping Zen is a digital archive of information on Zen Buddhism. Featuring in-depth interviews, an extensive database of biographies, news, articles, podcasts, teacher blogs, events, directories and more, this site is dedicated to offering the public a range of views in the sphere of Zen Buddhist thought. We are also endeavoring to continue creating lineage charts for all Western Zen lines, doing our own small part in advancing historical documentation on this fabulous import of an ancient tradition. Come on in with a tea or coffee. You're always bound to find something new.

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